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"Stats of the Week No. 5: The Ravens outrushed the Buccaneers by 77 yards -- in Tampa."

"Why Tactics Matter: In their openers, two 2005 playoff teams -- Carolina and City of Tampa -- were destroyed on their own fields. The Ravens' defense played so well the Bucs' offense recorded negative-7 points. Carolina's defense "overpursued," and Atlanta seemed to be expecting that. Several nice Warrick Dunn and Michael Vick runs came when all Panthers' defenders went the same way, nobody stayed home and the Falcons' ball carrier cut back. Atlanta coaches must have seen Carolina overpursuit in film."

and my favorite...

"Professional Athletes Are Supposed To Run! In the Baltimore-City of Tampa game, 340-pound Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata caught a deflected-pass interception and ran 60 yards down the sideline before stepping out of bounds on the Bucs' 9. Ngata was not tackled, rather, simply stepped out of bounds, apparently exhausted from his efforts; the Ravens had to settle for a field goal. After the play, the television announcers gushed about how impressive it was that a 340-pound man could run so far. Ngata is a professional athlete! The announcers should have said that it was embarrassing that a highly paid professional athlete is in such poor shape he had to stop after running a mere 60 yards. Any NFL player, including any lineman, ought to be able to run a dozen such wind sprints back-to-back."

Other quotes related to the game...

"Sour Play of the Week No. 3: Baltimore leading the Bucs 20-0 late in the third quarter, the Nevermores faced third-and-10 on their own 6; a stop here was essential for Tampa to have hope. Baltimore play-faked, and tight end Daniel Wilcox ran a short crossing pattern; Tampa safety Jermaine Phillips not only bit on the play-fake (it's third-and-10!) but made the high school mistake of "looking into the backfield," trying to guess what Baltimore quarterback Steve McNair was going to do, rather than covering his man. Wilcox caught for 35 yards while Phillips stood like topiary covering no one. By the time Tampa got the ball again, it was too late."

Re: TMQ: great read

TMQ is always the most interesting read of the week for me. Unfortunately, I can't get it at work anymore (MIT must have blocked ESPN.com), but it's an interesting and often thought-provoking twenty or thirty minute read. I was in mourning when ESPN fired him a couple of years ago, but his column is too popular to vanish.